Do It Like Dahl

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Yes, it’s been a while. That’s the trouble with writing – you’re often too busy doing it to write about doing it. Anyway, I’m back with the second in my series of short homilies on writing for children and this time I’d like to explore subject matter. It’s obviously...

How Stephanie Meyer Wrote Twilight

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For the third in my series on authors talking about how they get their ideas I’ve chosen the current doyenne of teen books, Stephanie Meyer. The story of how she got the idea for Twilight in a dream is well known but what I found interesting are the steps she...

Writing for Children

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Alongside my series of posts on how authors get ideas I’ve decided to write up my own, slightly anarchic take on writing for children. This series of tips and thoughts on the subject will be entirely random. It’s intended for both wannabe and more...

Is the Brit Lit Scene Lowbrow?

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An (American) friend shared a link to a New York magazine article on which literary scene is more stuck up – the British or the American. In reality, the article was referring to London and New York, both of which consider themselves the default setting for...

Margaret Atwood on Oryx & Crake

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For the second in my series on great authors talking about how they get ideas, here is Margaret Atwood on fabulously witty form discussing Oryx and Crake: